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SPEECH OF MR. lOUNCAN, OF OHIO, 

In the House of Representatives, Feb. 19, in Committee on Ike Army A m opriatil Bill. 



Mr. Chairman: I have ever bean cautious about 
voting appropriations. I have thought sometimes 
that our appropriations have not been in accordance 
with economical estimates. We have permitted an 
increase of expenditures to run with supposed wants 
without critically examining their character. We 
are asked to make large appropriations to our army 
and navy, when it is difficult to know whether those 
appropriations are necessarily and properly dis- 
bursed or not. The amount of our appropriations 
in proportion to the number of our army and the 
strengtli of our navy, will, I think, be found to be 
nearly double to 11 .,. , of the appropriations made 



tor the support of the British navy and army. This 
should not be. There is no reason why it should 
be so; a. id it can only be accounted for on the fact 
that we ha\ i ter number of officers than we 

should have for the number of men they have to 
command, or that their pay is too high. I think 
there is a disproportion in the pay of the officer and 
the common soldier or sailor. I think I can see 
a great impropriety in paying a commander six 
hundred dollars a month, while the soldier or sailor 
gets but eight dollars, whose risk is greater, and 
whose duty is more arduous than that of the 
commander. 1 think the disparity between the 
commander, whose duty it is to defend, and the 
farmer, whose duty it is both to maintain and de- 
fend, his country, is too great. A former will toil in 
dust and sweat half his life to procure a common 
farm; and then toil in sweat and dust until he is three 
score to support himself and family, and his "- v- 
ernment; and, in the mean time, if there be any fight- 
ing to do he has to do it; and if he, at the end of 
three-score years, can lay up three or four thousand 
dollars to maintain himself through the evening of « 
life he has done well: he will have credit for bein°- 
fen honest and industrious man. A farmer may own ' 
a farm which has cost him five thousand dollars; he 
may work it to the best possible advantage, and he 
will do well it lie clears three hundred dollars exclu- 
sive ot the expenses in its cultivation. I speak of I 
Western farms worked by free labor. How is it I 
with the epauleited gentleman? He receives a com- 
mission— a p.ece of parchment with some copper- ' 
plate flourishes upon it, and the President's name at 
the lower right hand corner; and a scrap of 
sheepskin, thus embellished, speaks him, as if bv 
magic into a fortune— brings him a yearly income of 
more than any twenty-four farmers, with all their 
capital vested in their farms and all their toil to hoot 
I will suppose that twenty-four farmers, each have 
a farm that cost five thousand dollars; the a ff <n-e<mte 
capital vested is one hundred and twenty tlmusand 
dollars; and yet the epauletted sheep-skin man will 
receive more in a year than the whole twenty-four 
farmers, though they toil in sweat from the beginning 
to the end of the year, and from the rising to the set- 
ting of the sun each day, while he toils not, neither 

»™™rft n; r l Solomo »> in *» h is glory, was not 
arrayed like Him; and I repeat, if fighting has to 
be done, the farmer and the mechanic have to do it. 
1 he mechanic spends four or five years in acquiring 
;atrade and after he has acquired it, he is doing 
well rf he can make three hundred dollars a year by 
his own labor, by the hardest licks of the anvil, the 
iapstone, or the jack-plane; and yet a command- 
er by virtue of a sheep-skin or a foot square of the 
hide of a jackass, will make more than twenty-four 
SUCh mechanics, and yet lives at ease, and glitters 



and glistens in tinsel and lace. We boast of our 
government being a government of equal privileges, 
equal rights and equal institutions; but is it so? 
What equality ls there in bestowing salaries which 
give to one individual more than twenty-four of our 
best farmers can make, including their own labor, 
with a capital of one hundred and twenty-five thou' 
sand dollars? That there will be inequalities in the 
circumstances of men, under the most free and equal 
forms of government, all will admit. The inequali- 
ty in the habits and ability of men to make or collect 
wealth, or to retain it, will produce inequality of cir- 
cumstances; but by far the greater inequality is 
produced by unequal legislation in the granting of 
monopolies, and in the gift of commissions with 
extravagant and profligate salaries. 

For the information of those who may read me I 
will expose the denomination of a few of the higher 
offices, and the annual salaries which they receive 
and contrast by figures the system of favoritism 
so blighting in its effects to the rights and prospects 
, ot al classes ol society, except those for whose ben- 
efit the system is established. I have supposed that 
an industrious, frugal farmer, with a farm worth 
| five thousand dollars, by his own labor, will make 
I three hundred dollars a year. 

We have what we call our regular army. At the 
head of that army we have a major general, whose 
j annual salary and perquisites amount to $7 144 88 
I Twenty-four farms worth $120,000; the 
labor of twenty-four persons per year, 
worth each $1 per day, amounts to 
the sum of $7,512; and the aggregate 
value for one year will be, in capital 
and labor - - _ - S127 512 

If each farmer receives $300 as his share 
of the proceeds of capital invested and 
labor expended, then will Major Gen. 
Winfield Scott receive as much as the 
■■whole twenty-four persons with their 
united labor, and their $120,000 of 
vested capital, or twenty-four times as 
much as either of them. I will ask 
my readers to keep this illustration in 
mind, and to apply it to the salaries of 
the officers, which I proceed further 
to expose and compare. 
I repeat that — 

The major general receives per annum - $7,144 88 

Equal to the income per annum of 

twenty-four farms, capital and labor 

included. 
A brigadier general receives - - $4 600 

A sum equal to the proceeds of fifteen 

farms, each worth $5,000, and labor 

included. 
An adjutant general receives - - $3 884 

A sum equal to the proceeds of thir- 
teen farms, worth each $5,000, and 

labor included. 
An inspector general receives - - $4 133 

A sum equal to the proceeds of four- 
teen farms, worth each $5,000, and 

labor included. 
A quartermaster general receives - $3,767 

A sum equal to the proceeds of twelve 

farms, each worth $5,000, and labor 

included. 
A commissary general receives • $3,568 

A sum equal to the proceeds of twelve 



$5,583 



$3,016 



$2,874 



farms, each worth #5,000, labor inclu- 
ded. 

A surgeon general receives - - 

" A sum equal to the proceeds of twelve 
farms, each worth $5,000, labor inclu- 
ded. 

A paymaster general receives - - 

' A sum equal to the proceeds of twelve 
farms, each worth $5,000, and labor 
included. 

A colonel receives - - " 

A sum equal to the proceeds ot thir- 
teen farms, each worth $5,000, and la- 
bor included. 

A lieutenant colonel receives - 

A sum equal to the proceeds of nine 
farms, worth each $5,000, and labor 
included. 

A major receives - - . " 

A sum equal to the proceeds of eight 
farms, each worth $5,000, labor in- 
cluded. 
A captain receives - r, 

A sum equal to the proceeds of seven 
farms, worth each $5,000, and labor 

And' sir', astonishing to say, even a lopsided, sin- 
-le epaulet ed lieutenant devours each year the 
fntire P proceeds of five farms worth $5,000, each, and 

Iab I°have not made myself acquainted with the 
amount of the salaries in other States than my 
own. The major general receives an annuel salary 
seven times greater than the governor of Ohio, w no 
Tthe d£f executive officer of one of the largest and 
most opulent States in the confederation. The 



•accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte to the conquest. 

of Russia. Where did they come from? They 

ftT 6-^8 'seemed to spring up like Roderick Dim's men, or 

' ' ike Macbeth's witches, out of the ground Where, 

1 ask did they come from? They did not come 
from Florida, nor from the lake and border frontier 
nor from Oregon, at all of which places they should 
have been, and where there was service for them to 

o It is 'provoking to the faithful representative of 
his constituents' interests to see every path i he at- 
tempts to travel literally blocked up with livened 

2 knowing, as he does, that their **£*.<*> 
trava«mnce, and debauchery, must be kept up by 

he ^weat 'of his constituents. I say debauchery; 
for idleness and undue privileges are the parents of 
vice and debauchery. The latter are as sure as the 
former. 1 a ieak with exceptions, and mean not 
ho" who are necessarily employed here ,nortf 
42 397 those who come here to make reports to the War 
**"" Depar7ment, or to receive orders from the -nre j 
akof suckers, drones, and loafers-those w ho 
K ma paraphernalia of coxcombs and 
"audi more than that of gentlemen, who dignify 
the ,ni y 1 sp< ak of those who adorn their supe- 
rior o "a, s of speech with moustaches, and their ia- 
tor frgans of speech with the imperial spot- 
hose who carry more whiskers around and be ow 
their face than brains under their sea ps— toad-eaters 
and boot-licks to their superiors, but are haughty 
a d disdainfu to those whom they consider their 
fnfcrtSnd they are all who do not wear epau- 
lets and yellow buttons. It is such I repeat, ot 
whom I speak, and not such as have duties to do, 
luld do their duty. These I respect, and will main- 

tJ1 While on the subject of useless and profligate ex- 
pendtos, permit me to inquire how many oncers 
1 „ , ' _.._ .u„-o «..V«n snpnd vears anu v ears on 



$2,184 



ma^r general receives a salary -en times greater penauuu, , = 'who spend years and years on 
thmr one of our supren^ judges wW^esu ofthenavy^ ^ 



than one oi oiu eupi^.i^ j—b— » •-.-- , —, 

more responsible, and whose labor is fourfold. The 
major general receives a salary ten times great, 
har "the salary of one of our circuit president 
judges, whose responsibility-involving as it does 



minu, anu me iuubi «.u««»~ «™ -- * , 

by far that of the duties and the responsibility ot t 
major general. Sir, I have no time to illustrate Uie 
dVparify in the salaries of the officers of the a my 
as compared with the salaries of our civil Us in 
this sliding scale from the highest to the lowest, 
which I hfve named; my readers can do that at then- 
leisure. I have given the salary of the major gener- 
al, and compared it with our governor;* sa lary. 1 
have given the salary of a lieutenant in the army. 
smalfand insignificant as is his position, his salary 
is two hundred and fifty-three dollars greater than 
the salary of the governor of Ohio. 

1 have said that 1 thought there were too man) 
officers in our army and navy for the duties they 
W to perform, and the number of men they have 
to command. I have been brought to this conclu- 
sion from the appropriations being out of all piopoi 
tion as compared With the number of our army, and 
£?£» ofo P ur navy, and from the fact M dueir, 
i B crowded at all times with officers w ho se e n t > 
have nothing to do but attend levees, balls, route 



LdwUKou domg an hour's service on sea, re- 
;' a iarterly high salaries? Is there no service 
for S do JThen strike them from the rolls as 
^eless^ncumbrances and as vampires upon the bo- 
som of society. Again: permit me tc > inqu, re ^why 
appropriations are made year after Y™}°^™ 



i'i in worui ess UI3VHUUUII ■■ — - - - 

perfect system of profligacy and -Uavaganc^ 
miraerv of a popinjay aristocracy. Its inmates are 
3re^ndy P co P m P oLd of the sons of rich .wm, 
who receive their education at the pub he expense^ 
■u,d when the country wants their service, or when 
fi^Z*. them, Jey throw up their eo = sion 
and turn their education to their own rnnteUM. 
Now sir I have presented thee abuses, not that I 
^osT;nything P Icandoorsay 3 *-»J« 
remedy the evils, but for the purpose of exposing 
treasons why those abuses have not been reme- 
&T3K "his time. The democracy have wit- 
,„ s , t ,l them with painful anxiety for years and 
have made various attempts to remedy them, and 
I y lp. has been baffled and defeated by fce 
onoosite party. Are we to be told that we have had 
ffllZgS, in the government and we ^houM 
have reform, d the abuses which 1 hav, hereex 
P d? S.^tisluitseldonit-atth;;;,;-—^ 

m lb, bands ot the democracy 



have nothing to do but attend levees balls, , routs "^^^3^ Senate" federal 
andassernbl.es, where each ^' lc ^^ ( , lldnnnn-dic and the House 



The House may 



rt lltlV vv*v"« 1 » 

two better men. Almost every other man you >'"" 
on our avenues is a liveried drone. It wi« tbe .re- 
membered that the unfortunate victims of the 1 nn - 
ton explosion w,,e buned with the honors of war. 
In that service there seemed to be more officers, 
mare plumes, more epaulets, and more tinsel, than 



The SenaU 
;:; r i :::;,n;:e; U ;ne''and\lle-l.,m T fVde r a!. Am 
!,.„ both branches have been democraUc, there 

down avcry attempt at retrenchment and reform. 



hare many books, as you perceive, on my desk— 
they are the journals of this House and of the Sen- 
ate and contain many efforts of the democracy to 

aw! Ski T d i n r ry ■w the y *57*£ 

SE?n i t federal vote against reformation and 

Tn tl ( !" tnt - , 2 f SCrt l he fact " Is there any wh£ 
on this floor who dares deny it? Now is the timet* 

denyn. Deny it if you dare. I speak by author - 
ity. I speak by the books. Here are your names- 
contradict me if you dare? "ames, 

If tunc would permit, I could [show, from these 
eSrav'i 'I vanouscomi P t and Profligate claims, 
wT " appropriations, and worthless expendi- 
tures haveal been presented, advanced, and sus- 
tained by whigs and whig votes. If it w'ere posst 
We to raise the curtain of distance that veils such 
Equities from the people's observation, their rebuke 
would be certain and effectual. There is no rn™ 
Who could be so recreant to his own imerest to the 
interest ; ,f those who look to him for Section or 
to the honor and welfare of his country as for 
a moment, to sustain the man or the party of men 
whose votes are to be found in these booksfmfavo? 
of the profligacy and corruption of which I have 
been speaking. There is no remedy, nor il there 
be a remedy, for these evils, until 'the people be 

people, i feel as if I wish I had the uower nf 
f iquity, that I could read these journalsKery 
Wrican voter; or that I had the voice of thu„de7 
would speak in peals that would pierce every ear 
nd admonish them of the frauds that are practised 
pon them by their own representatives j \£555 
■ ha I am now saying of the abusive practices here 
Ddm reference to the profligacy of tfe a my, Si 
e denied by every whig stump orator far and wide 
hen nenher I nor these books will be present but 
hy not contradict me now? It is because no man 
? re dare, do it. I am here and the books are £ 
ery whig tongue is silent as the grave. I will ex- 
sct that the people who read me, when I am assailed 
id when all 1 now say is denied, will demand the 
asonwhylam not now contradicted; why tie 
?n who are thus charged do not now clear the J 
irts o these charges. My answer is, they dare 



But, sir, I have other abuses to speak of— abuses 
a more alarming character than those I have 
m speaking of. They are abuses which involve 
tiers of dollars and cents. Those which I am 
ng to speak of involve the most sacred princi- 
3 of our government— abuses which should make 
ry lover of our free institutions shudder. Mv 
mtion has been called to those abuses by the or- 
taken on the subject by the Senate, which have 
resolution, appointed a committee to investigate 
frauds practised in the recent presidential elec- 
ta Will that investigation be thorough and im- 

Sr if ea L" 0t - , Tt wil1 be a one-sided investi- 
ng ihe Senate have appointed a committee of 
gs from their own body; that committee has 
ointcd whig commissioners in several of the 
cipal cities. The result will be, that all the 
locratic frauds, if there be any, will be exposed 
turned, and magnified; while the whig frauds 
be designed y concealed. It is my intention to 
'-duce a resolution in this House to appoint a 
mittee, with power to establish commissions in 
Jrincipal cities, to investigate election frauds 
■< 'mmittee, and those commissions, I will ex- 
to be democratic. We will then have the 



frauds on both sides exposed. If there be f m ,A 

every good man and every so'und patriot ' ° f 

. indulge me, while I expose a few of the corrupt an* 
iniquitous means which have ever marked SeooS 
ical course of the federal party, not only to 4im 
f«r elections, but to secur! tlj^ f^^^Z? 

■ it rfSHK? pri ri pIe of federa,i ™ tffS 

them unfi Tt g ?Jf ° f the C ° mmon People makes 
mem unfit for self-government; and they beinp- of 
■be uncommon class, should of right be' the lv 
ernors Hence it is that all thei J£ J2 to sef ure" 

Sd toT r d *j. & ™™ -easurel ^^! 
thirty th ^f u PP° sed 1 rgnoranceand stupidity of 
tbf people Their usual means are bribery, for4ry 
caricature falsehood, and slander. I will trace UD ' 
some of those means from an early period ToX 
government, by which the federal party may hi 

kimwn under whatever name they may have assumed, 
oi may hereafter assume, for political deception; for 
so long as they shall be known by their true name 
and their principles are known to correspond with 
their name, the democracy will and must triumph 
livery general election which has been car- 
fled io favor of the federal party, has been carried 

whfchT. binatlonof , th T e 1 COrru P tions and ^^ies 
which I have named. I begin with the unprincipled 

practice they have of changing their name They 
have changed their name with the periodical return 
of every presidential election; and this for the pur- 
pose of concealing their principles, and deceiving- 

hevTJn e ' T heir kst name 5 was whi S> and tha t nam! 

they kept as long as it would serve them any pur- 
pose; they will never fight another battle under the 
banner inscribed whig. Having exhausted the po- 
litical vocabulary, they will return to the abuse and 
persecution of the Irish and Germans, which char- 
ac rnzed the party in the administration of the elder 
Adams. The next flag under which they will fight 
will bear the inscription of native American. Nothing 
is longer to be feared from a change of name The 
people contemplate them as they do a straneer 
who gives himself a new or different name in everv 
town or vilage through which he passes. Their 
look upon him as a scape-gallows, or a horse thief 
wiio merits the rope or the penitentiary. 

Caricature and slander are means with them 
these have been the lot of every man of the de- 
mocracy who has run for any high station; and no 
man received a greater share of them than did Thos 
Jefferson. He was denounced far and wide as an 
infidel and a despot; as a reviler of religion, and a. 
defamer of morals, corrupt in heart, and vicious in 
practice. His election, it was said in hypocritical 
tears from the sacred desk, would be the overthrow 
of the Christian religion, and of all our moral in- 
stitutions; dark and damning infidelity would over- 
spread the land. The temples erected and dedica- 
ted to the worship of the living God would be dese- 
crated and converted into stables or the haunts and the 
abodes of infidelity; and God's holy word, by his 
prophets and apostles, would be publicly submitted 



4 



to contemptuous ridicule, and committed to the 
flames, and Tom Paine's Age of Reason was to 
ibe substituted. French infidelity was to usurp the 
throne of Christian worship. I hold m my hand 
one of the caricatures which weir spread over the 
country as numerous as autumn leaves. It was an 
appeal to the senses of the awful calamities that 
awaited the American people in the event of his 
election. This caricature, as you perceive, repre- 
sents Thos. Jefferson in the act of cowhidmg an old 
lady, with her throat grasped to suffocation, and her 
tongue lolled out, and his foot upon the Bible. Tom 
Paine has one hand upon Jefferson's shoulder, and 
the other is extended with his Age of Reason prof- 
fered as a peace-offering. Beelzebub has his place 
its the companion of Jefferson and Paine. Black 



Sal is also represented in the act of sweeping; and 
Jefferson's salt mountain is seen through the win- 
dow. 

Jefferson was denounced and ridiculed in prose, 
blank-verse, and doggerel rhyme. I hold in my hand 
a precious relic of that time. It is a number of 
stanzas in doggerel rhyme. I have room but for one 
verse, which will serve to show its character and 
the spirit of the times. It is in character with some 
of the doggerels sung to the abuse and ridicule of 
Jackson, Van Buren, and Polk, by the sari" 
party: 

"Let dusky Sally's name be changed, 

To that of Isabella; 
And let the mountains, all of salt, 

Be christened Monticello." 




. - ' -im^r^ / 7w/^^ [ 



This was one of the federal modes of electioneer- 
ing then; and a mode which they continue, infamous 
and base as it is, to this day, as we all see, by the 
exposes I will make as I progress. 

The discussions which we have had on the Ore- 
gon and Texas bills serve to identify the modern 
whig party with the federal party, as they were in 
the administration of Thomas Jefferson. All par- 
ties acquire names by their principles, and the meas- 
ures which they sustain or oppose. One has but to 
look back to the debates on the Louisiana purchase, 
to see the full sized portrait of the debates and the 
party which were made, and who oppose the annex- 
ation of Texas and the possession and occupation 
of Oregon. The catch words then were "The United 
States as they are. The constitution was made for 
She United Slates as they are.'''' These are now the 
catch-words against Oregon and Texas. The argu- 
ments used by the federalists against Louisiana are 
the same used against Oregon and Texas. The 
same speeches then made have been now read to us, 
differing in little else but in names. Louisiana was 
represented as a pestilential swamp, abounding in 
poisonous reptiles, with alligators enough to fence 
it. Texas has been represented as a pestilential 
swamp, and Oregon as a mountainous and barren 
waste. Such representations have been made of the 
entire West, from; time to time, as often as this gov- 
ernment has attempted to reclaim it. Caricature 
has been resorted to, with the intention to alarm and 
prejudice the public mind, and allay the spirit of 
western enterprise. 

I hold in my hand a caricature which represents 
a western family returning from the West to the 
rock-bound regions of New England. Here it is. 
It represents a family reduced to the last degree of; 
poverty, sickness, and wretchedness; a rickety cart, 
drawn by an old horse, so poor that his bones pro- 
trude through the skin; a wife, and several pale 
children. The husband is represented as hobbling 
■on two crutches, crippled with rheumatism, and pale 
and cadaverous with fever and ague. The cart has 
stopped; the horse is devouring some dry mullen 
stalks; while two sickly, ragged boys are making 
their way to a cabin seen at a distance, to beg some 
bread. I will procure a cut of this caricature, and 
give it a place in my printed remarks, to show my 
readers that the same disgraceful means were used 
to prejudice the public against the purchase of 
Louisiana, and other western territory, that are now 
used by the party to defeat the acquisition of terri- 
tory, as well as to defeat the election of every demo- 
cratic candidate who has ever ran for President. Of 
all modes of slander, caricature has ever been con- 
sidered the most cowardly and contemptible; and 
the man who is found out in it attaches to himself 
forever the frown and contempt of every good, 
honorable, and high-minded man in society. 

I might present an array of measures hostile to 
the prosperity of this country, and calculated to 
■circumscribe our enjoyments as a free people, sup- 
press the spirit of emigration, and to prevent any 
enlargement or spread of our republican institu- 
tions, as well as personal liberty, in the support of 
all of which the entire federal vote and influence is 
to be found; the evidence of which is to be found in 
the books which lie on my desk, and which I will 
display, if any whig here dare contradict me. All 
the acquisitions which have been made of territory, 
as well as every enlargement of liberty and equal 
rights, have been made by the democratic party, 



against federal speeches, federal votes, federal slan- 
ders, and federal caricatures. 

Democratic men and democratic measures who 
now stand highest in the public confidence and pub- 
lic affection, were as odious and as much abused as 
democratic men and democratic measures now are- 
The tongue of slander is hushed against Jefferson,, 
because execration would be the lot of the man who 
would attempt to defame his memory. The pur- 
chase of Louisiana is now sung as a glorious ac- 
quisition to our Union; but let another Thomas Jef- 
ferson spring from the democratic family, and i 
will be as much the subject of detraction, slander, 
and caricature as his predecessor, so sure as 
Oregon and Texas have been opposed with the same 
violence that the acquisition of Louisiana was. 
Federalism is federalism, and it can't be changed. 
It is founded on principles immutable as the laws of 
gravitation, and will forever be found to raise its crest 
against all principles and measures which have free 
principles and the spread of human liberty for their 
object. 

All this we have seen directed against the charac- 
ter and the administration of General Jackson, as 
well as in the new acquisitions of territory we are 
about to make. 

I hold in my hand a coffin handbill. This in- 
amous lie-bill was started to defeat the election of 
General Jackson. It contains the number of coffins 
which it was said were filled with the murdered 
victims of General Jackson. He was pronounced 
as a cold blooded murderer; and this handbill con- 
tains the name of each murdered victim, with a short 
biography of the cruel manner in which they were 
murdered; their good qualities in life, and the lamen- 
tations of their friends after death. All good persons 
are called upon to lament their death, and to execrate 
their cruel murderer. The author and circulaters of 
these handbills did not do all their friends justice; 
they should have added to the number of coffins here; 
represented about four thousand more, to represent 
the number of red coats that fell by the hand of 
Jackson at New Orleans, and two more for their 
more special friends Arbuthnot and Ambrister. 
Poor fellows ! ! ! 

I will make a miniature representation of this cof- 
fin handbill a part of my printed remarks. The 
generation which has sprung up since their use for 
political effect will feel a lively interest in seeing; 
them. I believe there are enough yet living who 
can attest to their existence, and the use that was 
made of them, if my word should be doubted. la 
the presidential elections of 1824 and 1828, they 
were spread far and wide, as numerous as mulberry 
leaves in November; and there were floods of croco- 
dile federal tears poured out over them. It is due to 
the rising generation to let them know that the maa 
who now has a place in the heart, and whose name 
dwells on the lips, of every man who loves his 
country, was once the subject of the vilest slander, 
the most malignant abuse, and the most unvarnish- 
ed falsehood, by the almost entire whig party. 

But let us follow up the federal mode of election- 
eering. No man ever bore a more spotless reputa- 
tion than Mr. Van Buren. His moral character 
stands, and has ever stood, above suspicion. His 
political character was, and is, of that marked, fear- 
less, open, candid, and dignified character as to com- 
mand the confidence and respect of all who knew 
him best. His administration was dignified in its 
character, bold, economical, and judicious, directed 
to the honor and the best interests of the couriiry* 




I ri /, ;ry / u# 



H 



»s all will acknowledge, and as history will main- 
tain, when the corrupting influences of party, which 
have so lone and poisoned the public mind, 

•Will have passed away. Yet no man, living ordjead, 
has ever been more the subject of falsehood and de- 
traction. The basest means were resorted to to ilc- 
fame him and his administration. The vilest slan- 
ders that th< rupt heart could entertain, and 
the most d< i aricatures thai the most vitiated 
minds could invent, were all brought to bear agatnsl 
his re-election. The cup of Blander, vituperation, 
jmd detraction was drained to its last dregs. The 



measure!? of his administration the best calcu- 
■I to advance the highest interests of the coun- 
try, and the prosperity of the people, were trans- 
formed into evils the most calamitous; his private 
and his public virtues were converted into vices the 
ilarming. 
It would be a task of too much time and trouble to 
repeat and refute the more than ten thousand false- 
hoods and slanders that disgraced the country at that 
tune, or to enumerate the frauds that brought dis- 
honor upon our government and shook its moral 
and political institutions to their very foundation. 




"Dh! did you hear that mournful cry, 
Borne on the southern breeze? 



Heard you John Harris earnest pray 
For mercy, on his knees?" &c, &c, &c. 



-S 



Ay, sir, caricature — that most degraded and degrad- 
ing method of slander and of electioneering — was 
resorted to then as theretofore by the federalists. 
1 hold in my hand a caricature which overspread 
the country in 1840. The 



mails groaned with the 



number which were franked by whig members of 



Congress. 



This degrading caricature is inscribed: 



"High places in government, like steep rocks, only acces- 
sible to eagles and reptiles." 




This caricature represents General Jackson in the 
character of a mud-turtle, crawling from the to] lo 

the base of a mountain, and Martin Van Buren, 
as a snake, wending his way to the ton. General 
Harrison is represented with the head of a man and 



the body of an eagle. I hold another caricature 
This was the inscription of .1 banner displayed 
from the head of every column that marched in all 
the drunken orgies that disgraced the elections of 
1840. This caricature represent Martin Van Buren 



upon his back in Ihe mire and sucking the teat 
of a long-eared old sow, and is labeled 

"Matty Van sucking fin public teal." 

This disgusting libel is of a man who has been 
twice honored with the highest and most responsi- 
ble offices in the gift of the American people. I 
may also make these caricatures a part of my print- 
ed remarks, to the end that they may be brought in 
contrast with the dignified character which the just 
and impartial historian will present of the adminis- 
trations of Jackson and Van Buren. I have no 
time to talk of the promises which were made to 
the people in connection with the infamous slanders 
which I have been briefly presenting; but I wish to 
perpetuate in memory and record the fact that the 
federalist denounced the administration of Mr. Van 
Buren profligate and extravagant; and that, 
if the people would unite with them in over- 
throwing his administration, they would ad- 
minister the government for less than half that 
was expended by Mr. Van Buren. They also 
promised prosperity to the people and to the coun- 
try; public and private confidence was to be" re- 
stored, credit revived, money was to be plenty, and 
the currency was to be sound, ay, "such a currency 
us the wwrld near saw before.' 1 ' 1 

How was the promise of economy fulfilled. In the 
four years of Mr. Van Buren's administration, the 
ordinary expenditures of the government amounted 
to sixty-three millions of dollars, (in round num- 
bers.) In the hco first years of the federal admis- 
tration, the aggregate amount of ordinary expend- 
iture is fifty-eight millions of dollars, (in round 
numbers.) Almost double the amount of the ordi- 
nary expenditures in the same time. I am not going 
to incumber my printed remarks with a detailed 
specification of figures and facts. I have the re- 
ports of the Secretary of the Treasury now before 
me, and I dare successful contradiction? Was the 
promise of plenty of money, prosperity to the 
whole country, and every individual, and "such a 
currency as the world never saw before," fulfilled? 
Yes, it was, to a certain extent; but not to the entire 
satisfaction of all the people. The loafers and bank- 
rupts prospered. This administration has been a 
four years' jubilee for such characters; prosperity 
has been theirs, and we have had plenty of money 
and such a currency "as the world never did s«e;" 
in quantity, it has been to the amount of twelve 
millions of dollars; in quality, it has been bankrupt 
notices. Double expenditures and twelve millions 
of bankrupt notices have been our currency, and the 
reward for the overthrow of the democratic party 
in 1840 — just such a currency, and just such a re- 
ward, as we merited. 

After the federal triumph in 1840 — a triumph mark- 
ed above all other triumphs ever known, military 
or political, by unbounded rejoicings, bacchanalian 
feasts, drunken orgies, balls, routs, singing, music, 
dancing, huzzas, and insults and sneers to the de- 
mocracy — I say, after that triumph, Mr. Clay, hi 
the United States Senate, likened the democracy to 
a felon who had been tried by a jury, found guilty, 
condemned, and standing in the cart, under the gal- 
lows, ready for the rope. How forcibly does all 
this remind one of the fate of Absalom and Haman! 
How admirably their treachery, their wicked 
schemes, and their fatal end, illustrates the frauds, 
the perjuries, the briberies, and the demoral- 
izing corruptions of the federalists, and particu- 
larly their leaders in 1840. And how like 
their end has that of the federalists been? Ab- 



salom was hungw hile riding a mongrel beast, 
much like that on which Mr. Clay rode, (for such 
is the composition of the federal party.) Haman 
was hung on the same gallows which he erected for 
Mordecai. Permit me to inquire, with a modesty 
and a diffidence which I claim to be almost peculiar 
to myself, who now has been tried as a felon, found 
guilty by his jury, condemned by his judges, and 
now stands in the cart with the rope round his neck, 
under the gallows which he erected for the democ- 
racy? I will let Mr. Clay, the embodiment of the 
whig-federal party, answer. As sure as God ia 
just, there is a day of fearful retribution for the 
wicked. That dark day now hangs over the fed- 
eral party; and the calamities, the disgrace, and the 
evils which they had prepared forthe democracy have 
fallen upon themselves; whether or not they will 
profit by it is yet to be seen. "God loveth uhom he. 
chasteneth." It may be that the calamities visited 
upon them by their wickedness may improve their, 
political morals. 

But, sir, I must talk of the frauds, forgeries, bribe- 
ries, and slanders, which were practised by the 
federalists in the recent election. It is to them that 
I wish to direct the attention of this House and the 
country more particularly, hoping that an expose of 
them may have the effect to direct public attention 
to some plan of more effectually preventing a repeti- 
tion of them. A duty which I owe to myself, to 
my country, and to the purity of the elective fran- 
chise, would, at all times, induce me to vigilance in 
so important a trust, whether in public or private 
life; but my attention has been called more imme- 
diately to the exposes I am about to make. I am 
not, at this time, going to expose double voting or 
fraudulent votes. I am not in the possession of the 
evidence of such votes. I have not made inquiries 
as to the extent to which iniquities may have been 
practised in other States than my own. ' I think the 
ballot-boxes were too well guarded in Ohio for the 
perpetration of many of the frauds that character- 
ized the election of 1840. That kind of voting I ex- 
posed, to some extent, and the fatal effects that 
must result from it, in a speech which I had the 
honor to make here last session. I have said that 
by whatever means the public mind may be poison- 
ed in relation to political men and political meas- 
ures, equally injures the value of the elective fran- 
chise, and corrupts the ballot-box, upon the purity 
of which depend the duration of our present form 
of government, and the perpetuity of our free insti- 
tutions. I am now to talk of forgeries, undue influ- 
ences, briberies, &c, which were carried to an 
alarming extent in the recent canvass, and with ef- 
fects that diminished, I have no doubt, the popular 
vote for the democratic candidates to a great extent. 

Permit me to enumerate some of these frauds and 
their effects as practised in Georgia — first of the 
frauds, then of the effects. A circular was issued and 
circulated in that State, purporting to be signed by- 
Sir R. Peel and others of London, inviting all lead- 
ing members of the free-trade party to call on and 
draw upon their house (designating the house) in 
New York, for whatever amount of money might 
be wanting to conduct and secure the election of 
Col. Polk, as follows: 

"London, September 15, 1844. 

"TV the free-trade parly of the United States: 

"AVe, the undersigned, members of the tory party of Eng- 
land, anxious and willing to aid the cause, and hasten the 
triumph of free-trade principles throughout the world, and. 
especially on the continent of America, have availed our- 
selves of this occasion to address this brief circular to one 



10 



tory brethren in the United States, who are zealously en- 
gaged in effecting the ascendency of our doctrines by elect- 
ing to the presidency that sterling and unflinching tory, and 
proud decendent of a tory, Mr. James K. Folk, and to assure 
our tory brethren on the opposite side of the water, that the 
money and talents of every good and true tory in England 
are at all times, and shall be henceforth at the command, ser- 
vice, and disposal of the leading partisans of James K. Polk, 
-who have so long suffered and patiently endured the curses 
of protective tariffs and negro slavery. 

"This circular will be transmitted secretly through the 
mails to the various postmasters and other government offi- 
cers of the United States. All bills or drafts for money or 
documents must be addressed with proper caution and cir- 
cumspection through democratic commercial houses to the 
undersigned, London. 

("Signed.) PEEL, 

WELLINGTON, 
J. & S. DEXXISOX, 

Committee for U. S." 

There was also a handbill circulated far and wide, 
promising that, if Mr. Clay should be elected, the 
distribution would result to the immediate benefit of 
each individual voter, by paying into his own hand 
the amount which each would be entitled to of the 
portion which Georgia would receive. One of the 
arguments used by the whig stumpers in favor of 
the election of Mr. Clay, was that if he should be 
elected Texas would be annexed. Comment on 
such base forgeries, such corrupt bribery, and such 
double-dealing, with an intelligent and honest com- 
munity, would seem to be unnecessary; nor would 
it be necessary if the people were always possessed 
of the proper means of information. 

We have read history to but little advantage if 
■we can view such means without concern, to cor- 
rupt the very fountains of our political safety. 
That promise to the voter of his portion of the 
proceeds of the public lands was a" direct bribe to 
the voter. The forgery which proposed money by 
the British aristocracy, was a fraudulent appeal to 
the fears and the patriotism of the voter. These 
fraudulent and forged circulars had for their objects 
an appeal to the pocket, an appeal to the patriotism, 
and an appeal to the fears. It was by such means 
that all republics have been overthrown; and it will 
be by such means that ours will be overthrown, if 
there is not a timely stop put to them. Now is the 
auspicious time to put in operation such means as 
•will forever guard the right of suffrage from such 
dangerous influences. To effect an object that must 
be near the heart of every good citizen, we must 
seize the time when the public mind is calm and un- 
excited by party strife; and this is that time. We 
have just passsedan exciting election; that excitement 
and that election are over; reason and calm di 
sion have resumed their throne; patriotism and love 
of country can have their undisturbed sway in the 
exercise of so good a work. 1 do not speak for the 
direction of this House. I speak with reference to 
our duties as citizens, and to the duty of the State 
legislatures. 

Georgia estimates her voters by her registered tax 
papers. The vote polled at the October elections 
showed a gr< ater number of voters than tax paS 
The whig journals, conscious of the charge of 
frauds which their corrupt meat iuld subject 

them to, raised theory Of tt mad'd6g" and chi 
the democracy with double and fraudulent voting, 
while subsequent exposures showed that the in- 
creased vote over the tax list way greater in fed 
counties than democratic counties. The November 
elections came of, and they Bhowed a still great* i 
increase, and the increase greatest in the federal 
counties, notwithstanding the increase of population 
is greatest in the new counties which are demo- 



cratic. That there should be an increased vote 
over the tax list is natural to suppose. However 
it may be intended that the tax list shall run with 
the number of voters, such will not be the fact. 
The tax of which I am speaking is called a poll-tax. 
Persons over 60 years of age pay no poll tax, nor 
those under twenty-one. Young men becoming of 
age between the time of the tax list return and the 
next election, are permitted to vote before they 
are registered. Persons registered as tax-payers 
can vote in congressional and presidential elections 
in any county in the State, and many poor persons 
are not put on the tax-register list. So I repeat 
that the tax list is no criterion for the number of 
voters, and we can only judge of the effects of the 
corrupt means which were used by the whigs in 
Georgia, by the increased federal vote in those fed- 
eral counties where an increased vote was least ex- 
pected. From Georgia I pass to Tennessee. When 
the nomination of Colonel Polk was announced, 
federalism, hyena-like, was quick on the scent. 
But his moral character repelled the beast. His pri- 
vate reputation was too pure, too unsullied to be 
smitten or even touched by the sirocco breath of 
slander. But he was not known. "Who was he? 
who was this little man called James K. Polk, away 
down in Tennessee?'' , was the question; was in the 
mouth of every whig, from the great "embodiment' 1 '' 
himself, down to the smallest whig snap in the land. 
They have found out who James K. Polk is; and 
they displayed an ignorance and a stupidity greater 
than that of Balaam's ass by asking the question. 
Janies K. Polk had held the highest office in the 
gift of his State, both representative and executive; 
and had for many yeas held a seat in the popular 
branch of our national legislature; a part of which 
time he was chairman of the Committee of Ways 
and Means, the most responsible of all others, with 
his name prefixed to every financial report made by 
that committee for the time he served. A part of 
the time he presided over the deliberations of the 
House of Representatives with an ability and a dig- 
nity which did credit to him, credit to the body 
who placed him there, and honor to the American 
nation. All that time his name was appended to 
every law that passed Congress. Notwithstanding 
all this, the question in the mouth of every whig 
was, "Who is this little man called James K. Polk, 
uvtiii down in Tennessee?" Such a question was the 
result of hypocrisy and deception, worthy of a cor- 
rupt party, or the result of an ignorance and stupid- 
ity worthy of the jackass. 

Those who ask the question can take which horn 

of the dilemma they please. The journals were 

ransacked to find some vote that Col. Polk had 

given, out of which political capital could be made. 

None could be found, except that he voted against 

appropriating money out of the national treasury 

1 to purchase wood for the poor people of Georgetown. 

True, he gave that vote, because he said at the 

' time, such a vote for such an appropriation would 

be a violation of his oath, and the constitution he 

' had taken an oath to support. At the time he pro- 

! posed that every member of the House should give 

day's wages out of his own pocket to the | 

I of Georgetown. Bui little capital could be made out. 

hat vote prejudicial to Col. Polk. Next, a charge 

v. as made that ne voted against the presehl pension 

lawj the journals were produced which showed his 

to be for the pension law. The journal was 

printed in all the democratic papers, anil read from 

every stump and stand from which a democrat 



11 



E 



spoke; and yet, with a recklessless that defied truth 
and the solemn record, it was asserted to the last 
that Col. Polk voted against the pension law. What 
is such a party not capable of doing? After failing 
to find anything against either the moral or political 
character of Col. Polk, real or fictitious, that could 
be used successfully against him, like the vilest 
beast of all beasts, they opened the graves of his 
fathers. His father was held up as having been a 
Jory in the revolution; but the history of his father, 
as well as the recollection of some still living, proved 
him too young to have either been a tory or a patriot 
in the revolution — too young to have taken any 
sart in the revolution. But the hyena propensity 
ed them to tear from the grave the body of his 
grandfather, and he, they swore, was a tory; 
but the character of Ezekiel Polk, and the part he 
took in the revolution with the patriots, is matter of 
record, and a few of his old compeers still live to 
attest the truth of the record. 

Ezekiel Polk was one of the first movers in the 
revolution; one of the first to light the beacon of 
rebellion. He was the first mover in the North 
Carolina convention that formed and adopted a 
declaration of independence one year before the na- 
tional declaration of independence. He was an ac- 
tive and powerful agent in the revolution; and, as a 
reward for his successes and patriotism, the legisla- 
ture of North Carolina elected him colonel of the 
county in which he lived; and the magistrates of the 
county appointed him sheriff. All these things 
were proved by the records, and attested by men 
who still live, in whose recollection they are yet 
fresh; but notwithstanding all this, there were base 
hired minions to yelp in derision "Zike Polk!" I 
travelled through a part of Tennessee a short time 
before the election, and I do not think 1 was half an 
hour without hearing some federal spaniel yelp 
"Zeke Polk!" 

One falsehood more, and I have done with Tennes- 
see. It is well known that a part of the plan of 
electioneering in the late canvass was to attack and 
abuse the prominent friends and supporters of Col. 
Polk, with the intent to weaken or destroy their in- 
fluence. Under this arrangement General Jackson 
came in for a large share of abuse. The falsehood 
which I am about to relate involved General Jack- 
son, James C. Jones, (governor of Tennessee,) and 
a minister of the gospel and standard-bearer of the 
holy cross (if u violent politician and a retailer and 
pedler of federal falsehoods can be honored with 
that name) by the name of Brownlow. General 
Jackson is a member of the Presbyterian church; 
Governor Jones is a member of the same church. 
Brownlow, to show the arbitrary and overbearing 
disposition of General Jackson, stated publicly that 
General Jackson ordered the minister of his church 
to turn a woman (naming her) out of the church. 
The minister replied that he could not do so until 
complaint should be made, and a trial given, and 
the proper forms observed which the rules of 
the church required. General Jackson responded, 
in an imperious tone, that she must be turned out. 
Brownlow gave Governor Jones as his author. A 
friend of the General, who heard this public state- 
ment made, advised him of it. He forthwith ad- 
dressed Governor Jones on the subject, detailing the 
statement as Brownlow had published it. Jones 
responded promptly, and denied, in unequivocal 
terms, that he had ever made such a statement. 
Both communications were published in the news- 
paper journals, (democratic.) So the matter stood 



until after the election; leaving the people to specu- 
late and wonder on whom the lie would fall — his 
excellency the governor, or the ambassador of 
Heaven's despatches. The election came off; when 
Brownlow came out publicly with the same state- 
ments, and proved, by those who were present 
when Jones made the statement, that he had made 
it as he (Brownlow) had detailed it. And Jones 
has quietly pocketed the lie, and must carry it while 
he lives. It will stick to him like the poisoned shirt 
of Nessus — a pretty brand for the chief executive 
officer of a sovereign State to wear! How does 
Tennessee bear her honors, with falsehood branded 
deep upon the forehead of her supreme executive 
officer? "Oh, shame! where is thy blush?" 

But I must pass to Ohio. Yes, sir: truth com- 
pels me reluctantly to expose some frauds and for- 
geries practised in that State, which, for the honor 
of my State, I would like to have forgotten. Some 
three or four weeks before the election, a communi- 
cation appeared in two of our journals simultaneous- 
ly, over the signature of "Roorback," charging 
Colonel Polk with branding his negroes on the 
back with the initials of his name — "J. K. P." 

Sir, one becomes bewildered almost when he con- 
templates such an abandonment of every regard for 
truth and moral obligation as is displayed in such a 
communication. It shows a wantonness and a 
criminal daring on the part of the wretch who can 
presume so far to defy public opinion as to be guilty 
of such an outrage; but the reflection is still more 
mortifying when we can contemplate a public state 
of morals so abandoned and vitiated as to tolerate 
suchjan outrage. When we contemplate the ab- 
sence of all the virtues that tolerates such a false- 
hood, and such a black and damning slander, we 
lose confidence in governmental and political institu- 
tions, and we feel as if we are unsafe in our prop- 
erty, our persons, and in our reputation. We feel 
benighted, and as if we were thrown into that state 
of heathen darkness from which the world was re- 
deemed by a Mediator. 

This reckless slander reminds me of a pious and 
talented divine, who, when speaking of the in- 
creased moral and religious obligations which our 
redemption brought us under, and our often reck- 
less disregard of them, in mercy to man we were 
sometimes involuntarily brought to regret that the 
star of Bethlehem led to the discovery of a Re- 
deemer. 

It is the duty of every member of society to do 
his part to preserve that state of morals, public and 
private, which the Christian religion imposes; and 
should they be neglected, and permitted to fall or 
collapse into that state of darkness which even a 
heathen would loath, we are all accountable, in 
proportion to the means and influences which are 
in our power to maintain them. When any people 
lose confidence in the laws to which they look for 
protection, either in the enjoyment of their civil or 
religious rights, they soon discover that they have 
nothing either to fear or hope from them. They 
throw off all restraints, and immediate anarchy 
takes the place of legal regularity. The whole ma- 
chinery of government, as well civil as religious, 
becomes at once a perfect wreck. Personal secu- 
rity is the foundation of all governments; and all 
laws, whenever they fail to give that security, lose 
all obligations due to them, and all duties and sub- 
missions to them are at an end; and with the over- 
throw of civil government, down goes your reli- 
gious government. The former may stand for a 



12 



time without the latter, but the latter cannot stand 
a day without the former. Every good citizen, 
whether he be a Christian or a mere moralist, looks 
upon his reputation as the first object of the law's 
care and protection; and it should be the glory, as 
it is the boast, of our laws, to equally defend all our 
citizens, high and low, rich and poor — as well the 
character of the most humble poor man as that of 
him who occupies the most lofty station. But 
when the character of him who is without a stain, 
and whose position in society is such as to merit the 
most lofty official position that man can hold by the 
free suffrage of twenty millions of free people, can 
be assailed with the most blighting and withering 
slander with impunity, what security can the hon- 
est man in the humble walks of life hope fori When 
falsehood and detraction can sport with the reputa- 
tion of the most reputable with such wantonness 
and fearless effrontery, who is it that can con- 
sider his reputation has a moment's security? If 
age, the most lofty position, the most unspotted char- 
acter, and a life devoted to the highest interests of 
its country, can find no security from the poisoned 
shafts of calumny, where is the inducement to virtue 
and patriotism? One of the strongest marks of the 
freedom of our institutions is the freedom of the 
press; but was it ever contemplated by those who 
made the freedom of the press a fundamental prin- 
ciple of our republican institutions, that it should be 
used to defame and blacken the reputation of those 
whom it might choose to make its victims by ground- 
less falsehood. The press, when directed to the 
public good, is the greatest blessing that a free or 
an enslaved people can enjoy; but when perverted 
to the base purposes of slander and falsehood, it is 
the most blighting curse that can afflict a nation. 
The press is a lever that can move the moral and 
political world, either for good or for evil. It can 
shake and totter the despot's throne, or it can bring 
to slavery and chains a free people; it can break the 
crosier or imprison the soul at its will. All this 
it has done, and can do again. In this country, it 
can perpetuate our republican institutions, and 
spread human liberty still wider, or it can overthrow 
both. When wielded for good, there is no despot's 
arm to arrest its progress. If wielded for evil, it can 
meet with no restraint but the disapprobation of the 
good; and even those who express that disap- 
probation, however exalted their station, may be 
made to quail before it by a repetition of its 
abused power. The newspaper journals were for- 
merly the medium through which the lessons 
of morality, virtue, and patriotism were taught to 
the people; and so long as they were devoted to 
such holy purposes, they were held in a respect al- 
most approaching reverence and adoration. The 
inciples which they advanced were held as the 
rules of faith in morals and patriotism. But how 
changed ! They are now feared as the reckless and 
abandoned .slanderer, and hated as the pander of 
of falsehood and detraction. The press that cot Id 
lend itself for so base a purpose as the publication 
of the charge on Colonel Polk, signed Roorback, is 
not free, nor can its publications be regarded as 
freedom of the pi-ess. It is the base-bought minion 
of a corrupt master; and such have been most of 
the federal presses ever since the people of this 
country commenced shaking off the trammels which 
the banks and other incorporations and mono] 
sing institutions had woven around them. Freedom 
of the press has almost become an obsolete idea; for 
many years past editors and newspapers have been 



articles of political commerce; they have been 
bought and sold like cattle in the market, or sheep 
in the shambles, and at all prices, from that paid by 
the United States Bank for Jim Watson Webb, 
y r >-2,000, down to that paid for the back woods 
county court advertiser, by the leanest shinplaster 
manufactory. But I have given too much time 
to Roorback. I think if moral dignity has yet any 
place in the American character, he will find his 
reward in the indignant frown and withering con- 
tempt of every good man of both parties, to which 
I hereby consign him. 

But of more frauds and forgeries in Ohio. It is 
well known that Birney was the candidate for the 
presidency of the abolition party. Of the ordinary 
corrupt means and undue influences that were used 
by the federalists to secure the abolitionists in Ohio 
for Mr. Clay, I will not speak. I speak of extraordi- 
nary means and extraordinary corruptions. A few 
days before the presidential election, a forged commu- 
nication made its appearance, purporting to be from 
under the hand of J. G. Birney, declining to longer 
stand as the candidate of the abolition party. In 
the North he was represented as having declined in 
favor of Mr. Clay, as more was to be expected from 
him for the abolition cause than from Col. Polk, as 
he (Clay) was opposed to the annexation of Texas. 
In the South he was represented to have declined 
in favor of Col. Polk, with a view to array the 
slaveholding interests against him, and to neutralize 
the unfavorable impressions making 'against 
Clay owing to the preference given to him in the 
North by the abolitionists in consequence of his 
opposition to the annexation of Texas. That was 
a two-edged sword made to cut in favor of Clay in 
the North and against Polk in the South. 

That letter of Birney was endorsed by the whig 
central State committee of Ohio as genuine; and, in 
consequence of that endorsement, passed off as a 
genuine document, and to a great extent did the 
business it was intended to do. Its work was so 
effectual in Ohio that the abolition vote for Birney 
was but six thousand; whereas for King, the aboli- 
tion candidate at the October election, the vote was 
upwards of nine thousand. When it was too late 
Birney's refutation made its appearance, but with 
no other good effect than to impress upon the pub- 
lic mind a valuable admonition triat extreme caution 
against such corrupt and deep and dark plans to 
deceive them is the highest obligation they owe 
themselves. Who committed that forgery? Public 
opinion fixed it on the whig State central committee, 
and on them public opinion will clinch and rivet 
it. He who will endorse a falsehood or a forgery, 
will commit both. I am told that this forgery was 
endorsed by the whig central committe of Indiana; 
and in that State it did large business for the whig 
electoral ticket. If I am wrong, some m< mber from 
the State can correct me. 

While on the State of Indiana, permit me to name 
another circumstance, which shows an alarming 
.-tale of moral and political depravity, whi«'h noth- 
ing but a diseased and distempered state of political 
excitement would tolerate. 1 had the honor of ad- 
dressing a democratic mass meeting of the citizens 
of Indiana, at the Rising Sun. The whig party had 
a barbecue on the same day, at the .same place. 
From the head of their marching columns was dis- 
played the American flag. That flag was borne by 
a convict of the Indiana penitentiary, yet fresh, reek- 
ing in disgrace and infamy, and with the sickening 
stench of the penitentiary yet enveloping his loath- 



13 



some person. Excuse me from comment on such a 
disgusting scene. 

I now pass to the whig frauds of New York; and 
I will have time to notice but a few of them. I was 
not conversant myself with the whole system of 
bribery practised, or attempted to be practised, in 
New York. I believe it will not be denied that 
money was poured out and spread over the State 
like water, to buy up democratic votes. I have been 
furnished with one case, where a man stated at the 
polls thai lie had received twenty-five dollars on his 

Eromise to vote for Mr. Clay. In conformity with 
is promise, he put a ballot in the box with the 
name of u Henry Clay for Coroner" on it, stating 
that that was a sufficient redemption of his promise. 
Another individual stated at the polls that he had 
been offered two dollars, but that he had refused to 
take it, and pointed out one of the inspectors of the 
election, and another individual who was standing 
by, as the individuals who had offered the bribe. 
Another man stated at the polls that he had received 
forty dollars, at sundry times, to vote for Mr. Clay, 
but voted the democratic ticket openly. 1 have only 
named these four instances to show the truth of the 
charge that a grand and wide-spread system of 
bribery was adopted to corrupt and bribe every man 
that could be corrupted and bribed; and that iniqui- 
tous system was carried so far as to invade the very 
sanctuary of justice, guarded and defended as it was 
by the solemnity of an oath, binding the conscience 
while here, and the soul to the throne of an eternal 
responsibility. I could fill a book with glaring in- 
stances of frauds which I have collected in various 
other States, but which I have no time to men- 
tion. 

But before I quit New York, I wish to speak of 
one fraud which was played off upon the democra- 
cy. It is well known that there is a new faction, 
under an old name, springing up: I mean the name 
of "Native American.'' I will probably pay my 
respects to that faction before the close of this ses- 
sion; at present, I will only say that the object of 
the faction is to deprive the foreigner, who flees from 
despotism, of the rights of a free citizen. It is an 
old firm under a new sign. It is a portion of the 
same party, under a new name, that were crushed 
to the dust, as the worm is crushed, by the election 
of Thomas Jefferson. In one of the democratic 
processions in New York city, it was so contrived 
as to push a federal native American, bearing aloft a 
banner inscribed "Americans shan't rule us." The 
bearer was rudely thrust out of the procession. 
When another division of the procession marched 
up, the bearer of the flag again entered, and again 
was thrust out. But the object of the fraud was 
secured. The foreigner's banner was seen in the 
procession, and the charge went forth with the ra- 
pidity of horizontal lightning, that the flag was gen- 
uine, and was represented as a daring and defying 
bravado of the Dutch and the Irish — a presump- 
tuous declaration of their strength and their num- 
bers, and an arogant attempt at the usurpation and 
the control of the government ; and all good and 
true Americans, who loved their country, were ap- 

f>ealed to, as they revered the memory and the revo- 
utionary services of their fathers, to march to the 
polls to their country's rescue, and to redeem their 
cherished and free institutions from the hands of the 
degraded swarms of the ruffian vassals of Germany 
and Ireland. How far that fraud may have influ- 
enced the election, others are as capable of judging 
as I am. As usual in our elections, the country 



was threatened with poverty and ruin in the event 
of the success of the democracy. 

I hold in my hand a loaf of black bread. It is 
composed of saw-dust and wheat bran, cemented 
with a small quantity of molasses. This, the peo- 
ple were told, was the bread which the "common' 1 '' 
people were to eat in the event of Polk's election; 
a Lacedaemonian poverty was to overspread the 
country, and the people were to be fed on "black 
bread and broth.' 1 '' This loaf of black bread is of the 
proper size to fill the pocket of a whig demagogue; 
and was carried "from barbecue to barbecue, and I 
suppose displayed from every ash stump in the land, 
and no one to bless it. Ah, sir; who are they who 
eat black bread: Go to the States of Europe and 
you can answer that question. Go where monopo- 
lies and high tariff protection prevail, and you will 
find millions who eat black bread. Go to England, 
where a national bank and a high protection have 
thrown the entire real and personal wealth of the 
nation into the possession of less than three hun- 
dred thousand of an aristocracy, and by which 
more than twenty millions are ground down in pov- 
erty to the dust and the grave; there, sir, you will 
find black bread, and those who eat it. But extend 
your travel to Spain; you will find millions who 
have to eat black bread in sorrow and slavery by 
the same system of monopoly, while a few, who 
are the recipients of the benefits of that monopoly, 
riot in wealth and luxury. Progress in your tour 
of discovery, and you will soon arrive at Portugal, 
where you will find the maxim of aristocracy ("the 
better-bom should govern") in full blast, with all its 
benefits, you will find the entire mass of the common 
people reduced to bondage, while "the better-bom^ 
but few in number, riot in luxury wrung from the 
sweat of those who have been reduced to bondage 
by a long and cherished system of monopoly and 
exclusive privileges; there, too, you will find black 
bread. Turn your face to the north; traverse the 
vast dominions of a Russian autocrat, and you will 
find, by the same system of monopoly and exclu- 
sive privileges, even a worse state of bondage. You 
will find a proud and haughty nobility scattered here 
and there over the country. You will also find a 
population of millions, and many millions too, who 
only distinguish themselves to be the sons and daugh- 
ters of Adam, by walking erect. They are wiih- 
out responsible souls; their bodies are the property 
of a master; mere serfs, sunk in degradation; chained 
to the landed property, and transferred with it from 
master to master, as the horses and cattle, of which, 
in every civil, responsible, and political sense, they 
are a part. There, too, they eat black bread. Who 
is it here that would throw the government into the 
control of "(he better born?" Sir, that was a maxim 
with the federal leaders at the formation of our gov- 
ernment, and has been so from that day to this. 
Who are they who have exerted themselves from 
the first day of our national legislation to this day, to 
fix upon the country a national bank and a high pro- 
tective tariff, and an organized system of monopolies 
and exclusive privileges, which have the direct ten- 
dency, and are intended to have the effect to reduce 
"the common people" of this country to a state of Eu- 
ropean bondage: I answer: the whig -federal party. 
The men and the party of men who displayed this 
loaf of black bread in hypocrisy, deception, and fraud. 
This government has no power to manufacture and 
bestow privileges to any man, parly of men, or asso- 
ciations. It has no power to adopt any system • ><' ptal- 
tcy that will operate to the benefit of one e!u*t of. 



14 




Caen to the exclusion or prejudice of all others. No 
system of policy can be adopted, whether it be a sys- 
tem of protection, or of monopoly, that will 
not be partial and oppressive in its operations 
to all classes of society, with the exception 
of the few whose locations and whose occupa- 
tiona may make it peculiarly favorable to them. 
Hor can any government manufacture powers or 
privileges. It may transfer powers and privileges; 
or it can rob one class of the community, or the mass 
of the people, of powers and privileges which never 
were surrendered in the formation of the government; 
but all such exercises of power are a violation of the 
fundamental principles of the government, a political 
robbery, and a violence on the sacred rights of the 
people. Ifthe law-making power in a State incor- 
porates a bank, the advantages consist in the exclu- 
sive privileges which arc bestowed to the incorpo- I 



rated company. From whence are those exclu- 
sive privileges drawn? The answer is plain. 
They are drawn from all the remainder of the peo- 
ple who are not embraced in the corporation. It 
is, I repeat, a violence and a robbery upon their 
rights which the constitution was made to defend 
and protect. So with a protective system of policy. 
If extraordinary duties are imposed, upon foreign 
importations, it operates directly as a bonus to those 
who manufacture all articles on which is imposed 
such duty; and that/too, at the expense of the entire 
community not engaged in the manufacturing of 
such articles. A protective system must be an op- 
pressive system, because it must be partial. A sys- 
tem of protection, a* app1i<d to the imposition of 
high duties which would extend to all persons in 
ill- community, would be no protection at all. It 
would destroy itself. Sir, permit nie to admonish 



15 



those who read me, if they would avoid that state 
of inequality, vassalage, poverty, and pauperism 
which have reduced millions in Europe to eat black 
bread in sorrow, to set their faces and exercise the 
political powers which are theirs, against those sys- 
tems of monopoly and partial protection which the 
federal party are attempting to fix on them and the 
country. We have passed an election of the chief 
magistrate of the country; that election is more 
glorious on account of the triumph of principles than 
of men — that is its chief glory. We have elected a 
man whose purity of purpose will be directed to the 
honor and to the highest interests of the country, to 
the whole country, and nothing but the country. 
We have defeated a man whom 1 believe to be one of 
the most corrupt and dangerous men living. 1 be- 
lieve him to be the Catiline of the age, and who, if 
he had been elected, would have overthrown those 
free and equal institutions which are the guardians 
of our personal liberty and the anchor of our politi- 
cal hope, and would, so far as his official power 
would have enabled him, have supplanted their place 
with privileged orders, odious monoplies, and sub- 
verting influences. I believe no man ever spoke 
more truth, in the same number of words, than did 
Jno. Randolph, when he said "Henry Clay was 
talented, but he was corrupt. He stinks and shines, 
and shines and stinks, like a rotten mackerel 
by moonlight." How narrowly did we escape! 
Through the whole canvass, high hopes inspired and 
stimulated the entire federal ranks; while despair 
and doubt, dark as the cloud of midnight, occasion- 
ally hung over the democracy. So confident were 
the federalists of victory that, as I am told, a magni- 
ficent and gorgeous coach was constructed to convey 
the body of the "great embodiment" from Wheeling to 
the capital mansion; but oh, how mortifying! Col- 
onel Polk rode in that coach to the capital mansion. 
Saul sought the life of David, and while pursuing 
him with all his royal power, David at one time 
cut the skirt from his cloak; at another time he took 
from him his staff and his cruse of water. God was 
on the side of David and the children of Israel. God 
was on the side of Polk and the people. 

1 have said that, out of the great anil multiplied promises 
made the people in 1840, if the federalists could get power, 
there was but one fulfilled — that was "such a i um ncy us the 
world never saw, and plenty of it." That promise, I repeat, 
was fulfilled. The quality was bankrupt notices— the 
quantity was twelve millions. Some wag has sent we the 
model of a bank note, which he says was to be our currency 
in the event of Mr. Clay's election. Here it is. His a hand- 
some picture; a good looking bank note; and 1 believe 
would have about as much intrinsic value as other bank 
notes, which have been, and are likely to be, a part of our 
currency. For 1 see our Ohio whig legislature are about 
passing a bank bill, which is again to overshadow the 
State, and perhaps the country, with a spawn of shin-plas- 
teis. To say nothing of the "flourishes and images of men 
and beasts, it reads as follows: 

"Huzza! huzza! the country's rising 
For Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen. 

"Bank of the United States— capital $200,01)0,000— received 
in all government dues — payable in whig glory — in old 
I'nited States Bank notes — or in generous confidence— at the 
option of the holder— T. Frelinghuysen, cashier — H. Clay, 
president." 

I will make a cut of this federal whig bank note a part of 
my printed remarks, for the amusement of my readers. It is 
in character with the currency of bankrupt notices. It is 
a great misfortune that there could not have been a large 
issue of these notes before the election. They could all 
now be redeemed with coon skins. 

Mr. Chairman, the chief object I have had in making these 
exposes is to guard the democracy of the country against 
the effects of such corrupt and fraudulent means as are re- 
sorted to by the federal party to deceive them. I will ask 
them, if they have no immediate use for this expose, to put 
it away ; and when an interesting election comes on, return 



to it, and compare the federal means used with the means 
heretofore used, as here exposed. They will see again, 
repeated what has characterized every election that 
has gone before— caricature, bribery, slander, and de- 
tection. Perhaps a reperusal of this expose may 
have the effect to lead them to compare the means which 
will be used with those which have been used, and conclu- 
sions may be drawn that will save them from being made 
the dupes and the subjects of such frauds. 

I cannot take my seat without warning my readers against 
the influence and designs of new factions which periodically 
spring up lor political effect, but with professions moral and 
patriotic. A reference to past factions, and their designs, 
ought to be sufficient to open the eyes of every man against 
the snares of factions which, no doubt, will hereafter spring 
up, as well as against new names which will be assumed for 
political effect. Why is it that every new faction that springs 
up, as well as every new political name that is assumed, is 
brought to bear against the democracy ? Political fraud has 
over and over displayed itself to be the object, and still the 
people will permit themselves to be deceived. In the midst 
of war, when gloom overspread the country dark as the cur- 
tain ©f night — when every national energy and when every 
man worthy of the name of an American should have been 
concentrated on national defence, there was a peace party 
sprung up, which had for its object, national subjection ana 
national disgrace. That faction rallied many to its disgraceful 
banner; all of whom were turned against the democrary. 
Next came, after that, the anti-masonic porty, which had its 
<laj j and from its disgraceful beginning to its disgraceful end 
operated against the democracy, Next followed the aboli- 
tion faction, whose object, from its beginning, seemed to be 
Ijui to divide and conquer the democracy. No sooner does 
its leaf become sere and yellow than the native American 
faction shows its head, and arrays itself against the democj 
racy, and combines itself as well with the federal party as 
with the remnants of the factions which preceded it. But, as 
I before remarked, this is an old faction under a new 
name. Oi all factions that ever disgraced American soil, 
or polluted the American name, this is the most politi- 
cally dishonorable and anti-republican. It is at war with 
every patriotic principle and with nation:.! gratitude. It 
should be supposed that the well-known fact that there is 
not a field on which a battle was fought, either in our glori- 
ous revolution, or our second war tor {independence, that 
did not drink the blood of foreigners, more especially that of 
the Irishman and the ( teraan, would secure to the foreigner 
the rights of an American citizen. Lafayette, Pulaski, De- 
kalb, Kosciusco, and Steuben, were all pilgrims in the cause 
of American independence — all rendered services in that 
cause that demand, in the name of justice, patriotism, and 
gratitude, the rights of an American to their respective 
countrymen ; and he who would deny them such 
rights is unworthy of them himself, and should 
be transported and consigned to Russian despot- 
ism. Montgomery was an Irishman. He poured 
out the last drop of life on the plains of Abraham before the 
walls of Quebec. Has he gained nothing for the oppressed 
sons of Ireland? Who would deny to the countrymen of 
Montgomery the rights of an American? Retributive jus- 
tice would consign him to linger and languish by the op- 
pressions which Great Britain imposes on Ireland. I have 
before said that the object of the native American party is 
to disfranchise the foreigner; and their whole'object is to 
reach the German and the Irishman. They are two to one 
in number as compared with all other foreigners, and Uhey 
\ uh the democratic ticket. If they voted the whig ticket 
we would hear of no native American associations. It is to 
advance federal whigery that the Germans and the Irish 
are to be disfranchised. Germans and Irishmen ! I 
wish you were here; I would appeal to you — I would 
say to you, as you abhor the despotism from which 
you have fled, and as you love and revere the 
government and the free institutions you have adopt- 
ed, turn upon your enemy. It will be the united 
effort of the whig and native American parties to crush joul 
to the earth — to sink you into political and civil degrada- 
tion. A spirit of resentment is an instinct of animated cre- 
ation—from man. the image of his Maker, to the worm of 
the dust. If you wish to perpetuate those rights which the 
constitution hss secured to you and tho;e of your country- 
men who are to come after you, your only hope is through 
and by the democracy. The democracy are your friends: 
they have stood by you, and will stand by you. Will you. 
stand by them? In all our political struggles, will you be 
found rallying under the banner of democracy ? As the de- 
mocracy and the democratic principles are maintained and 
perpetuated, so will your rights be perpetuated and main-' 
tained. The foreign blood which was drunk b; the soil to 
which you have fled, and which you have adopted as your 
home, demands, in silent admonition, that you shall at ail 
'times do battle in the glorious cause of democracy. 



16 



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